
Armagh Planetarium is a
planetarium
A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...
in
Armagh
Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It is located close to the city centre and neighbouring
Armagh Observatory
Armagh Observatory is an astronomical research institute in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Around 25 astronomers are based at the observatory, studying stellar astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy and Earth's climate.
In 2018, Armagh Obs ...
in approximately fourteen acres of landscaped grounds known as the Armagh Astropark.
History
Armagh Planetarium was established by the seventh director of Armagh Observatory, Dr.
Eric Mervyn Lindsay
Eric Mervyn Lindsay FRAS (26 January 1907 – 27 July 1974) was an Irish astronomer.
He was born at The Grange near Portadown, County Armagh to Richard and Susan Lindsay. He was educated in Dublin at the King's Hospital School, then attende ...
, who, after twenty-five years of effort, secured funding from local councils and the Ministry of Commerce of Northern Ireland in 1965. In the same year,
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter.
Moore's early interest in astro ...
was appointed as director of the planetarium to oversee its construction. The planetarium cost £120,000 to build (included in this was £12,000 for the planetarium's first projector) and was officially opened on 1 May 1968, although it had been open to the public for some months before that. Since then it has undergone a number of alterations: the main building was extended in 1974 to incorporate the Lindsay Hall of
astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
, and a dome was created to house a reflecting
telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
for public use, currently the largest public telescope in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. In addition, in 1994 a new exhibition hall, the Eartharium, was added due to increased interest in
Earth Science
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
. The Armagh Astropark, which opened in 1994, is a scale model of the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
and the universe contained in the grounds of the Armagh Observatory, with scale-sized
stainless steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
models of the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
and
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the te ...
.
The planetarium, which was founded in 1968, it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.
Technology

Under the directorship of Terence Murtagh in the 1970s, Armagh Planetarium introduced several new technologies. Murtagh recognised the possibility of exploiting the new technology of
video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
projectors to provide the show's special effects, eliminating the need for dozens of slide projectors. Video tape recorders were new and rare at this time and this research was ambitious with many technical hurdles standing in the way. Off-the-shelf video projectors had to be optically and electronically modified to present natural-looking images of celestial bodies on the dome. The system he introduced remained in place until computer controlled
laserdisc
LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
players replaced the videotape players in the 1980s. This development meant that Armagh Planetarium was the first planetarium in the world to project video on its dome. Other planetaria around the world followed this lead.
Armagh Planetarium also pioneered the introduction of an electronic
audience participation
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
system. This allowed the audience to control the show themselves. Each seat was fitted with a small keypad, using this device the audience could use their buttons to respond to multiple-choice quizzes in the show, be polled on their preferences and even steer the direction of the show by selecting the topics. ''Space Odyssey'', created in Armagh in the 1980s and scripted by
Ian Ridpath
Ian William Ridpath (born 1 May 1947, in Ilford, Essex) is an English science writer and broadcaster best known as a popularizer of astronomy and a biographer of constellation history. As a UFO sceptic, he investigated and explained the Rendle ...
, was the world's first ever completely interactive planetarium show. This innovation has also since spread to other planetaria.
Refurbishment
Before reopening on 31 July 2006, Armagh Planetarium underwent a major refurbishment. The building was totally refurbished to make it "more comfortable and environmentally friendly". These improvements saw the complete rebuilding of the digital theatre to accommodate 93 visitors and the installation of a new
Bose Corporation
Bose Corporation () is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its Home audio, home audio syste ...
stereo sound
Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
system, an updated
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
lighting suite and a
Digistar 3 fulldome video projection system.
Armagh Planetarium maintains an outreach programme. Planetarium staff travel to venues such as schools and science festivals to deliver presentations on astronomy and other sciences. A thirty-seat inflatable planetarium is used for most of these visits.
On 7 December 2006, the Armagh Planetarium building was dedicated to the memory of Eric Lindsay in a ceremony led by Archbishop
Robin Eames
Robert Henry Alexander Eames, Baron Eames (born 27 April 1936) is an Anglican bishop and life peer, who served as Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh from 1986 to 2006.
Early life and education
Eames was born in 1936, the son of ...
.
Projectors
Armagh Planetarium has used a series of projectors of increasing sophistication and capability. The first projector was the Goto Mars (1968–1977). It included individual lamps to project images of the
Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
,
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
and
planets
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets by the most restrictive definition of the te ...
. This was followed by a Viewlex-
Minolta
was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated ...
Roman IIb (1977–1994), which is still in use in its current home at South Downs Planetarium in England. The first digital projector installed in Armagh was an
Evans and Sutherland
Evans & Sutherland is an American computer graphics firm founded in 1968 by David Evans and Ivan Sutherland. Its current products are used in digital projection environments like planetariums. Its simulation business, which it sold to Rockwell C ...
Digistar 1 (1994–1995). Armagh was the first planetarium in the UK to use this new technology but it was soon replaced by the more advanced Digistar 2 (1995–2006). The latest Digistar 7 is a "state-of-the-art" computer system projecting full-colour
fulldome video across the entire dome.
List of directors
See also
*
List of science centers#Europe
References
External links
Official site of Armagh Observatory and Planetarium
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Astronomy in Ireland
Buildings and structures in Armagh (city)
Science museums in Northern Ireland
Museums in County Armagh
Planetaria in the United Kingdom